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Washington, DC — (AP) State Sen. Sharon Marko said Wednesday she is
jumping into the DFL race for Minnesota's 2nd Congressional
District, pitting her against former FBI agent Coleen Rowley.

"This is a really important election," Marko told the
Associated Press, citing the possibility of Democrats taking back
the House. "We need to be focused on the important issues."

The winner of the DFL primary will take on U.S. Rep. John Kline,
a Republican.

Marko's entrance in the race comes two days after Rowley had to
apologize to Kline for a doctored photo on her campaign Web site
that depicted Kline as the Nazi soldier Col. Klink from the TV
series "Hogan's Heroes."

Rowley's campaign said a volunteer inserted the picture, labeled
as altered, into a campaign blog entry and that it was up for about
24 hours until campaign officials learned about it.

"I'm not really focused on her; I'm focused on John Kline,"
Marko said. But she did say of Rowley, "I've just noticed the
occasional lack of professional ability."

Marko, 52, served four House terms before being elected to the
state Senate in 2002.